Protection Map sample — The Millers, age 45, after closing the gaps, from Financial Risk Partners. Sample Protection Map · After: Gaps Closed · Summary Guide · Full Report · ← Back to Protection Map

In this example, 1 result still shows a gap: Holly's Ability to Earn. Disability coverage is generally limited (about 70% of take-home pay), so the rest — $1,400 a month for Holly — would come from savings and cash or lower spending. Every other gap is closed. Extended Care is covered today, but a gap can open later: Steve's and Holly's $500,000 long-term care benefits are each a fixed amount, while care costs are expected to rise 4% a year. If care were needed at age 80, it would cost about $887,870 in that year's dollars, so the benefit covers $500,000 of it and $387,870 is left to fund for each. The later care is needed, the larger the cost grows against a benefit that stays the same.

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Income Interruption

No gap at your goal

$0 — no gap

No gap: what you have set aside already meets your 12-month goal.

A layoff, an illness or a gap between jobs can stop a paycheck with little warning, and the bills keep coming. The money you've set aside buys your household time.

What this measures

How long the household's cash, savings and investments outside retirement could pay for essential spending if income stopped.

An emergency fund also gets the household through a large medical bill. Every health plan has an out-of-pocket maximum: the most you would pay for covered care in a plan year. Keeping more than that in savings means a serious illness or injury doesn't have to become debt on top of lost income.

How families protect against this. An emergency fund protects your household's bills while income is paused. It buys time to find the right next job rather than the first one.

Your goal and where you are

How many months of essential spending would you want set aside?

3 months — no gap
6 months — no gap what we suggest
12 months — no gap your goal

Where you are

Your goal: 12 months of essential spending set aside — $108,000 in today's dollars.

Where you are: $158,000 in cash, savings and investments, enough for about 17.6 months — in today's dollars.

How it adds up

$158,000 cash, savings and investments ÷ $9,000 a month of essential spending	17.6 months
12 months × $9,000 a month	$108,000 goal
$108,000 goal − $158,000 you have	no gap

All figures in today's dollars.

The gap

$0 — no gap

No gap: what you have set aside already meets your 12-month goal.

Ways to close the gap

There is no gap to close.

If it happened later

If it happened…	The gap then
Today	$0 — no gap
In 5 years	$0 — no gap
In 10 years	$0 — no gap
In 20 years (when Steve would be 65)	$0 — no gap

These figures include future price rises. We assume spending goes up 3% a year, your savings keep up with prices, and you don't add to them.

What if…?

Each one shows how your result would change if something were different. They are not advice about what you should do.

Try your own what-if

If your income stopped for 6 months

Your household would need about $54,000 for essentials over those months. Your cash and savings would cover about 17.6 months, so there's no gap.